


Dancing Stars

by aidyr



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, Fluff, Human AU, I'm Bad At Tagging, No angst here, One Shot, Short & Sweet, Stargazing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, educational?, peridot is gaaaayy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 04:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15502416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aidyr/pseuds/aidyr
Summary: Human AU Lapidot fluffLapis and Peridot are chilling on the roof of their shared apartment, enjoying each other's company under the stars. Out of nothing but curiosity, Lapis asks her beloved little nerd what her favorite star is. What follows is a fluffy and mildly educational conversation about stars, constellations, and being hella gay.





	Dancing Stars

“Say Peridot…?” Lapis’ calm and melodic voice cut through the comfortable silence surrounding the two. Peridot didn’t say anything, simply hummed in acknowledgement then continued to stare dreamily up at the stars. Lapis took Peridot’s answer, no matter how curt, as an answer nonetheless and went on to ask her question, “which is your favorite star?”

That got Peridot’s attention, the nerdy blonde snapped her eyes away from the beautiful darkness of the night sky and into the beautiful darkness of her girlfriend’s chocolate eyes. “Why do you ask?”

Lapis shrugged lazily, regarding her favorite little dork with a gentle smile. “Well, we’ve come up here to stargaze a few times now. Each time you go on and on about the constellations and the planets and stars, and the stories behind them. But I don’t think you’ve ever told me if you have a favorite.”

Peridot pursed her lips, looking down from the roof on which they sat, gazing at the ground below seemingly deep in thought. She and Lapis roomed together in a little old apartment a small ways from their college campus. On clear nights, the two had found climbing onto the roof and hanging out under the stars to be an enjoyable pastime. As moments passed with only breathing to fill the silence, Peridot turned back to Lapis who wore a fixed look of interest. “Well… yes I suppose I could specify a favorite. I’ll tell you about it,” Peridot paused, “if you tell me your favorite star.”

“You know I don’t know as much about space as you,” Lapis responded with a grin, “how am I supposed to know what my favorite star is?”

“I dunno,” Peridot retorted, “I’ve told you tons on the subject though. Surely some of that information got though that wild blue head of yours.”

Lapis tapped a finger to her chin thoughtfully. “Well, I don’t think I have a favorite star. But I could tell you my favorite constellation.”

“Oh? And what’s that?”

“Andromeda.”

Peridot furrowed her brow, a small number of emotions playing across her face. Eventually she settled on curiosity. With widened eyes she leaned closer to Lapis and inquired, “How come?” Part of her just wanted to know how much about Andromeda Lapis had remembered after their discussion on her a couple months ago. Other parts were genuinely wanting to know why this particular cluster of stars stood out to the blue-haired islander.

“Her story just… stuck with me I guess.” Lapis answered cooly.

“Tell me her story.” Peridot requested with unwavering intrigue.

Lapis in turn, merely gave Peridot a questioning glance. “Peridot, you know the story by heart.”

“I want to hear you tell it though.”

Peridot’s expectant waiting wore down Lapis’ walls. With an exaggerated roll of the eyes, the latter girl went on to recount all she remembered of Peridot’s energetic and enthusiastic telling of the story. “Well, it was a pretty simple story if I remember,” Lapis begun, searching the sky before her gaze settled on looking at the constellation in question. “Her mother, I forget her name, but she was the queen, bragged that her daughter was more beautiful than the sea nymphs.”

“The Nereids,” Peridot helpfully cut in.

Lapis smiled and nodded, amused by the informative tone her girlfriend would put on whenever she felt she was dropping some crazy wisdom. “Right,” she spoke softly before moving on, “anyways… The nereids or whatever told Poseidon that the queen needed to be punished. So Poseidon summoned a monster named…” Lapis stopped, squinting as she tried recalling the name of the mythical beast.

“Cetus,” The blonde supplied before Lapis could successfully remember it herself.

“Nerd,” The older girl chuckled, ruffling Peridot’s already messy hair. “So Andromeda’s dad panicked and to keep the monster from wrecking everything instead chained Andromeda to a rock as a sacrifice. An oracle told him it would appease the monster. So… There she was, trapped. She stayed, tied up by the sea. Freedom always in sight but out of reach…” Lapis’ voice dropped, her lips turned softly downwards. Suddenly a thick wave of tension came emitting from her, as it would whenever she reminisced on the darker times in her life.

Peridot frowned, it was becoming clear to her why Andromeda’s tale had resonated with Lapis. Lapis had a troubled past to say least. That whole mess with Jasper, the accident she had in the ocean, Lapis had once explained to her that she’d often felt trapped. Luckily, these past couple years things had taken a turn for the better. But she still had rough days. Peridot moved to sit closer to Lapis, something she did instinctually whenever overcome by the desire to comfort or protect the troubled art student. Lapis hadn’t failed to notice, and moved closer too. She rested her head on Peridot’s shoulder. They stayed quiet, enjoying the warmth of each other's bodies. Eventually, Lapis’ shoulders relaxed, having apparently become tense at her own memories. She sighed, and looked up at Peridot with an appreciative smile.

It didn’t take long then for her to resume the story. “She stayed like that for what felt like forever. Until this one guy, Perseus, came and rescued her. He slew the beast, and whisked her away. They got married and lived happily ever after.”

“Lapis,” Peridot begun, her voice low and sweet, “I think I can understand why you’d feel inclined toward that particular constellation.”

“Hm?” Lapis hummed back, feigning ignorance, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah right,” Peridot joked, looking to lighten the mood. She angled her head so as to press a kiss against Lapis’ forehead, which was still resting up against her. “At least tell me I’m a good Perseus. Then I can tell you about my favorite star.”

Lapis giggled weakly, “And what makes you think you’re the Perseus here?”

“Am I not?” Peridot returned the light laughter with a cocked eyebrow. She gave Lapis a skeptical though playful look, which Lapis responded to by nudging Peridot with an elbow and scoffing.

“Maybe,” she admitted, “maaaaybe you’re the Perseus.”

“Well, you didn’t say I was a good Perseus, but I suppose that was adequate.” Peridot turned up towards the late autumn sky. She searched like she were an explorer intensely studying a map. After a little comfortable quiet, she nudged Lapis and pointed up at the stars. “You can’t see it too well this time of year, but you see way over there? The Cygnus constellation?”

Lapis followed Peridot’s pointer finger, which landed her looking at a group of stars she felt she recognized from one of their prior star-sessions. “That’s the duck, right?”

“Swan, actually.”

“Whatever,” Lapis grinned, “what about it?”

“You see there?” Peridot motioned towards a particularly bright star, the one near the tail of the swan. “That big bright star is named Deneb.”

“And that’s your favorite?”

Peridot made a noise that almost sounded like offense. She waved her hand dismissively and straightened her glasses like she would whenever getting ready to go on a tangent. “Deneb? Please,” she mocked, “sure, it’s bright, but it isn’t all that. My favorite is the one opposite of that. I pointed out Deneb cause it’s easier to see. The one at the head of Cygnus is called Albireo. That’s my favorite.”

Lapis trailed Deneb, across to the star she vaguely recalled being the head of the majestic sky bird. The star didn’t seem like much. In fact, it was less impressive looking than a couple of the other stars making up the very same constellation. Lapis tilted her head in a futile attempt to make out what about this boring little star had garnered Peridot’s favoritism. “It… kinda just looks like a star.”

“Well, from here, sure.” Peridot shrugged, “But if we had a microscope it would appear more interesting.”

“Well…” Lapis started, moving away from Peridot so she could better face towards her. “Tell me about it then. What’s so neat about it?”

It was difficult to see at night under the light of the moon, but Lapis could’ve sworn she saw Peridot’s freckled cheeks briefly color over with a generous red blush. The latter pulled out her phone, and started typing something with a little too much vigor. Before Lapis could ask what her girlfriend was doing, she had a green smartphone shoved in her face. She took the phone from Peridot’s hands, where she found herself looking at a google images page. All through it were pictures what looked to be two stars, one blue and one yellow. Peridot had typed the words ‘Beta Cygni’ into the search bar.

“And this is…?” Lapis started, sincere interest filling her voice.

“It’s Albireo,” Peridot informed with a childlike joy. “Albireo is a double star, comprised of two stars so close together they look more like one star when viewed from afar.”

Lapis scrolled through the pictures, captivated by the images of Peridot’s favorite star(s). “Well, it is neat.” She decided aloud, letting herself stop and focus on a particularly nice picture. The bigger yellow one shined extraordinarily bright as compared to the timid blue glow of it’s partner. “Why’s it your favorite though? There has to be more to it than that.”

“Well, there is that I think it’s interesting on a technical level but…” Peridot paused, and once again, even in the dim night light, Lapis noticed a warm blush spreading her girlfriend’s face. “It’s unknown if the two are rotating around each other or not,” Peridot began to explain, toying sheepishly with the hem of her shirt, “if they were, they’d be a binary system, as opposed to just a double star. But I like to think that they are. In addition to them being part of one of my favorite constellations, it’s also like they’re dancing with one another. I enjoy thinking about that. And I think… the blue one is particularly pretty to look at.”

“Why’s that…?” Lapis didn’t realize it at the time, but a soft red was beginning to take over her cheeks as well. The heat settled in nicely against the light brownish-tan of her skin. 

“I-it… It reminds me… of us… and of you…”

That was a sentiment so absolutely adorable and sweet, Lapis couldn’t even wrap her head around it for several seconds. The blue of Albireo’s smaller star was near exactly the same shade as Lapis’ dyed hair. And, admittedly, the yellow of the larger star was rather close to Peridot’s shade of blonde. Lapis looked up at Peridot’s bashful face, down at the pictures she still had pulled up, and back again. Her chest suddenly felt lighter.

It took them a while to say anything, but when someone finally spoke up it was Lapis who softly cooed, “C’mere you dork.” She pulled Peridot in for a quick kiss, then held her tight for a hug. They stayed cuddled up, even when they both tore their attention away from each other and back to the stars.

Neither was really stargazing anymore though. They weren’t studying the expansive and beautiful night sky. They both stared at the same star.

“Hey Peridot…?”

“…Yeah?”

“I think I have a favorite star now.” Lapis sighed happily, her eyes locked onto the head of a certain swan.

“I’m glad to hear it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so if any of you were wondering, Albireo is my favorite star too. *UwU intensifies*
> 
> Anywho, I enjoyed writing this. I wasn't gonna make it a human AU when I started it, but it works I guess. I really have to write the next chapter for a story I've got going on FimFiction, so I probably won't write anything until after I finish that. Give me like... a week give or take.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this and learned a little something about stars I guess.


End file.
